Wild and yeasty flavours/ fine tuning

Rodan · Nov 20, 2006

hey guys,

So ive been tasting and criticizing past AG homebrews that ive made... mainly in a hefe-weissen and a belgian triple that i brewed. Both beers were made from recipes found in homebrew books and were not changed or modified. Recently, i brewed a biere du garde (from "farmhouse ales" using a Wyeast seasonal biere du garde... WAY to young yet) and, most recently i brewed an oatmeal stout (not yet bottled)

Both beers (the hefe and the triple) are displaying this wild/ yeasty flavours, although the hefe is definatly displaying more. I drink a lot of import beer, and i LOVE belgian ale (St. Bernardus, Karmeliet, Unibroue, Gouden, Saison) and german hefe weissen (like hacker-pschorr or paulaner), so i definatly know what they are suppost to taste like. I use liquid Wyeast brand, whole hops and generally try to keep things "authentic" (as much as i can).

Im wondering if anyone has suggestions for a more authentic taste. I own a couple books about belgian ale ("brew like a monk", "farmhouse ales" and a couple classic beer style books like "german hefe weissen" and Belgian ales").

I havent used isinglass or any other filtration method... is there a possibility that there is simply to much yeast suspended in the ale? How about the brand of grain? Conditioning process??

The triple is developing great flavour, but is haunted by the yeasty/wild flavor that appears in the middle of the palette... subtle but still noticable.

I guess im trying to fine tune my beers... im really interested in brewing so i definatly dont mind spending extra money or time to get better results.

Any suggestions??? Anyone else really interested in belgian beers??

Thanks guys! :mug:

:rockin:

uglygoat · Nov 20, 2006

how long do you let them age? i have some wheat bears made with belgian whit yeast from whitelabs that i bottled in may, and they are just now begining to mellow out of the yeastyness that was almost too harsh to drink.

Rodan · Nov 20, 2006

Right after bottling i put by brew in a warmer temperature zone for 5 days or a week, basically to encourage fermentation and carbonation. Right after that week the beer is put in a fridge downstairs that i have regulated at about 5 degrees celcius. The beer stays there for a month or more.

may to november eh? Wow that 6 months! OK, we may have found possible problem number 1. My hefe weissen was bottled May 12th. My triple was bottled in July 20th.

Has anyone else found that in general, homebrew simply takes about 6 months to fully ripen? Its just weird cause brew books like Charlie Papazian usually state that a month will be good.... maybe thats because they arent brewing german hefe's and belgian triples?

I supposed i allways associated young beers with a harsh and rough flavours, not meaty/yeasty/wild flavours.

What about the amount of suspended yeast in each bottle? That would contribute right? Should i start using isinglass or something similar? Im thinking about the Oatmeal Stout thats sitting in my secondary right now... waiting to be bottled.

uglygoat · Nov 20, 2006

i'm not certian it's necisary to go six months, but these belgian yeasts seem to change, for the better over a longer period of time. im my limited experience anyhow. the yeast has dropped mostly out of the beer in my case. they are pretty clear untill i pour the sediment into the glass for the whit.

Rodan · Nov 20, 2006

I assume the same thing can be said for German wheat yeasts eh? The yeast i used for the hefe was the Weihenstephan strain from Wyeast. I havent used a belgian wheat yeast... yet. I may try a Blanche de Chambley clone soon....